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Acting veteran dies from asbestos-related cancer

Harold Hopkins, right, had major roles in several Australian television series and movies, including Don's Party (1976) with Graham Kennedy.

Australian actor Harold Hopkins has died in a Sydney hospital from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.

Hopkins, who had major roles in several classic Australian movies including Gallipoli, Don’s Party and The Club, died at Neringah Private Hospital in the Sydney suburb of Wahroonga early this morning. He was 67.

His family said he had contracted the cancer in his first job after high school, when he worked with asbestos sheeting as an apprentice carpenter in south-east Queensland in the early 1960s.

He is survived by his twin brother, John, and five other siblings, Naomi, Michael, Gregory, Margaret and Suzanne.

Hopkins' brother-in-law, Rowland Hill, said the actor had auditioned for a role in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming film, The Great Gatsby, in May, just days after he had been diagnosed with the cancer.

It was Hopkins's chance to strut his skills in the role of Henry C. Gatz - Gatsby's estranged father - in a 1920s suit and fedora.

Hopkins knew he would never be able to play the character, but he seized the opportunity anyway.

Harold Hopkins (left) and John Howard in a scene from The Club.

"It [the audition] was just a great opportunity to take part in the industry that he had spent a lifetime in," Mr Hill said.

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Described by his family as a charmer and a larrikin with an exuberance for life, Hopkins was born on March 6, 1944, in Toowoomba in south-west Queensland.

In the early 1960s, he took on a carpentry apprenticeship, working without protective masks or clothing and unwittingly allowing asbestos fibres to penetrate his lungs and chest for close to half a century, his family said.

But before the first signs of the cancer appeared this year, Hopkins's life was filled with acting roles.

He followed his twin to the National Institute of Dramatic Art [NIDA] and graduated in 1967.

He appeared at the Sydney Opera House in the Doll trilogy plays by Ray Lawler and he was able to channel his inner larrikin to most effect, Mr Hill said.

During his lifetime he appeared in 16 movies, also including Age of Consent and The Year My Voice Broke.

"He used to talk a lot about Gallipoli [in which Hopkins played Les McCann] - he enjoyed that role enormously," Mr Hill said.

Hopkins also appeared in more than 160 episodes of television series such as Barrier Reef, Homicide, The Godfathers, Twenty Good Years, Sarah Dane, A Nice Little Earner and Underbelly.

"I think he loved everything about it," Mr Hill said.

"He had a very healthy ego that kept him going back to it ... but he was not arrogant.

"He was very much a man who followed his own passions and interests."

In the 1970s Hopkins bought a block of land at Webbs Creek, off the Hawkesbury River, where could indulge his love for nature, animals and the outdoors.

"It was where he belonged and where he was happiest," his twin brother, John, said in a statement.

"He became the guardian of his Webbs Creek block, and pulled all his friends into his magic when they visited him there."

Later in his career Hopkins worked with many young actors including Joel Edgerton, Kieran Darcy-Smith and Damian Walsh-Howling, who visited him before he died.

Even when he was experiencing a great deal of pain, Hopkins was charming those around him, his family said.

"To see this nursing staff who didn't know him, they were all engaged by him quickly, even as he was facing death," the family said.